needn’t offend you when you consider that I don’t care at all what the outcome of the case
is, and that I would only laugh at it if I were sentenced. Assuming, that is, that the case will
ever come to a proper conclusion, which I very much doubt. Indeed, I fancy that it has
probably been dropped already or will soon be dropped, through the laziness or the
forgetfulness or it may be even through the fears of those who are responsible for it. Of
course it’s possible that they will make a show of carrying it on, in the hope of getting
money out of me, but they needn’t bother, I can tell you now, for I shall never bribe
anyone. That’s something you could really do for me, however; you could inform the
Examining Magistrate, or anyone who could be depended on to spread the news, that
nothing will induce me to bribe these officials, not even any of the artifices in which they
are doubtless so ingenious. The attempt would be quite hopeless, you can tell them that
frankly. But perhaps they have come to that conclusion already, and even if they haven’t, I
don’t much mind whether they get the information or not. It would merely save them some
trouble and me, of course, some unpleasantness, but I should gladly endure any
unpleasantness that meant a setback for them. And I shall take good care to see that it does.
By the way, do you really know the Examining Magis trate?” “Of course,” said the woman.
“He was the first one I thought of when I offered you my help. I didn’t know that he was
only a petty official, but as you say so it must naturally be true. All the same, I fancy that
the reports he sends up to the higher officials have some influence. And he writes out so
many reports. You say that the officials are lazy, but that certainly doesn’t apply to all of
them, particularly to the Examining Magistrate, he’s always writing. Last Sunday, for
instance, the session lasted till late in the evening. All the others left, but the Examining
Magistrate stayed on in the courtroom, I had to bring a lamp for him, I only had a small
kitchen lamp, but that was all he needed and he began to write straight away. In the
meantime my husband came home, he was off duty on that particular Sunday, we carried back our furniture, set our room to rights again, then some neighbors arrived, we talked on
by candlelight, to tell the truth we simply forgot the Examining Magistrate and went to
bed. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, it must have been far into the night by then, I
woke up, the Examining Magistrate was standing beside our bed shielding the lamp with
his hand to keep the light from falling on my husband, a needless precaution, for my
husband sleeps so soundly that not even the light would have wakened him. I was so
startled that I almost cried out, but the Examining Magistrate was very kind, warned me to
be careful, whispered to me that he had been writing till then, that he had come to return
the lamp, and that he would never forget the picture I had made lying asleep in bed. I only
tell you this to show that the Examining Magistrate is kept really busy writing reports,
especially about you, for your interrogation was certainly one of the main items in the two
days’ session. Such long reports as that surely can’t be quite unimportant. But besides that
you can guess from what happened that the Examining Magistrate is beginning to take an
interest in me, and that at this early stage — for he must have noticed me then for the first
time — I could have great influence with him. And by this time I have other proofs that he
is anxious to win my favor. Yesterday he sent me a pair of silk stockings through the
student, who works with him and whom he is very friendly with, making out that it was a
reward for cleaning the courtroom, but that was only an excuse, for to do that is only my